Conaire Creaney

Irish software developer and sports enthusiast. Strong opinions, weakly held.

[Ryan Singer @rjs]

I've heard this too many times now. "We cycled through a few different Heads of Product... they never work out."

The pattern looks like this...

1. Founders notice they aren't shipping product.
2. They think a Head of Product will fix it.
3. Head of Product comes in, and spends time/energy at the "strategy" level of framing.
4. The strategy from the Head of Product misses the mark.
5. Founders realize they probably have better ideas about strategy.
6. Founders explain what's important to the Head of Product.
7. Head of Product doesn't have the right skills to translate "this is what we want to solve" to a blueprint of what to specifically build.

In the end, it's a mix of wrong output and no output.

What went wrong here? The #1 mismatch I see is that founders don't know what to expect from the Head of Product, and vice versa.

Founders think they should delegate strategy, which is often not the case.

Heads of Product think they should contribute strategy, which is often not the case.

What's missing is this ... very often Founders have a good nose for what needs to get solved. What they need is someone who can NARROW DOWN and TRANSLATE that into a specific concept with good UX that's technically legible.

But instead what happens is both compete for the "set the strategy" role. And nobody is problems into frames into shapes to go build.

My #1 advice to founders thinking they need a head of product. Ask yourself: do you actually NOT know what you want, strategically? Are you really looking to outsource strategy?

If it's not actually about bringing in someone from outside to set the direction for your whole product ... then you need someone who is skilled ONE LEVEL DOWN in concreteness. Meaning someone who can listen to you about what matters, whiteboard the solution that pulls it all together, and work with technical people to make it happen.

There is a HUGE gap in the market today. We need product people who can work ABOVE the level of Figma-visuals and BELOW the level of "company strategy". So much work of getting to what we actually ship — the blueprint — is in-between.

And let me tell you ... if you EVER go to a product conference, prepare to be deeply misled. There are WAY TOO MANY talks about "strategy" when nobody in the room is truly responsible for strategy.

Product is ultimately about understanding the purpose and translating that into a specific design. A Head of Product who can't whiteboard a UI flow or make technical trade-offs with engineers isn't heading product. They're trying to play CEO.

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@INArteCarloDoss Starting to think it’s always been like this. I just wasn’t paying attention

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@paddycosgrave Pathetic

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@jonnyjkane @destraynor @CiaranCuffe All Dubliners excluding the west brits 😂

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@dhh Do we offer amnesty for the “America is the bastion of free speech” lectures you gave us?

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@INArteCarloDoss @FranceskAlbs Poor form going after Cantona for this. Also poor form not paying your debts to Travis. Come on man grow a set.

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@dejanvasic85 I think the more likely scenario is what happens to bitcoin if inflation rises. Historically it declines.

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@profplum99 Any updated views on the longer term prospects bitcoin? Personally not a fan but it looks like im a dying breed these days

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@trader1sz If you expected morals from ANY crypto founders you’re going to be massively disappointed

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@destraynor @Padday Very interesting listening 👍

I don’t fully agree — current AI is hugely useful, but feels like it’s hitting a ceiling. Time will tell.

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb]

In discussions with young pple I am usually protective & diplomatic (that also applies to nice older people).
Peterson is both an asshole & an idiot.
He doesn't even know that, in the foundation of epistemology, "true" and "belief" are not equivalent (JST=justified true belief).

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@levie Why has no one created a hit AI movie yet?

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@destraynor Is this guy claiming what LLMs are doing when they predict the next word is actually “understanding” everything about the question

There is ZERO understanding.

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@robotiguy @destraynor Whatever you’ve been smoking put it down 😂

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@azzopardi_bob @LeahSmith_Sport Absolutely useless. Try https://t.co/aOQw3S9yCA the rest are garbage

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@jimmycarr How was the event Jimmy?

https://t.co/WwDr0DUFVU

[Energy Embargo for Palestine @EEforpalestine]

🚨BREAKING🚨: Jimmy Carr, Nigel Farage, Maria Eagle, the Board of Deputies, Kemi Badenoch among those that attended yesterday's secret "Israeli Independence Day" celebration held at the British Museum.

Let’s talk about who was in the room last night - and why it matters 🧵

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@DegenDwagmi @shillitz 100% correct.

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@bitcoinjack Bitcoin morons will love this. They think the fact they “own” a password that somehow protects them from violence

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@__CB500__ What do you think is going on? Why do you think they want to sell it?

[Conaire Creaney @conthecod]

@bitcoinjack gain leverage and strengthen freedom values 🤣